Opinons and reports from the bridge table about card play, bidding, auctions and bidding theory.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Lights out

I'm in favor of light opening bids but sometimes they go sour in unexpected ways. A bit unusual, this was the theme twice in the same set vs Stewart-Woolsey in the Spingold quarter-finals. First board of the 2nd set (we sat out the first), I opened 1H in first position white/red with:

T873KQJ74AJT3

This pinpointed the heart situation and propelled them to a cold 6D after a 2D overcall when our teammates went down in 3NT on a heart lead after having the auction to themselves, costing us 16 imps.

Later, my partner had also in first position (red/white):

QJ984A52A9762

We open hands like this routinely and have the system to prevent us from getting to high without reason. This time it caught Woolsey with:

742KQJ328JT43

He jump overcalled 2H (favourable) and when we got to 3NT this was easily defeated on a heart lead.

At the other table my hand could open 1NT and after 3NT and a high spade lead, it was imperative for West to find the heart shift. That wasn't a clear by any standards and the game came home for 12 imps away.